2 things that stood out in Grigor Dimitrov's R1 win over Lorenzo Musetti at Vienna Open
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria beat Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Tuesday, October 24. The match lasted for around one and a half hours, as the 32-year-old won without much fuss.
Dimitrov has been in good form in the recent past and will play in his second-round match on Thursday, with his opponent yet to be decided. He will fancy his chances of reaching the semifinals at least in the tournament.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1 Dimitrov used the backhand slice really well in the match
Musetti repeatedly targeted Dimitrov’s backhand with his inside-out forehand right from the beginning of the match. That prompted Dimitrov to use his backhand slice more often to take the pace off the ball.
It meant that Musetti had to exert more power behind his strokes and committed a few unforced errors off his forehand in the process. He hit his inside-out forehand long on a few occasions to gift a few points to the Bulgarian. However, to his credit, Dimitrov hit a few exceptional down-the-line winners to make the Italian’s job even more difficult.
Dimitrov broke Musetti in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead and then held his serve to extend it to 4-1. He then maintained the lead for the remainder of the set to win it and draw the first blood.
#2 Musetti ventured forward, but that tactic backfired at times
Musetti started venturing forward into the net quite often to put pressure on the Bulgarian. He also used the drop shot at times to drag his opponent forward.
However, Dimitrov continued to be solid with his performance from the baseline and also served with more firepower than Musetti did.
The Bulgarian fired eight aces and won 82% of the points on his first serve in the match, while the Italian managed only 60%. Dimitrov also got the decisive break of serve in the ninth game of the second set, as Musetti hit his volley wide at the net while attempting serve-and-volley.
Dimitrov then served out the match without much difficulty to continue his rich vein of from. Musetti, on the other hand, would have been disappointed with his failure to win a single set against a much older opponent.